Thursday, March 14
6:30–8:00pm at
New Bedford Whaling Museum
18 Johnny Cake Hill
New Bedford, MA
Marc Norman – Underwriting Icicles and Leveraging Sidewalks
For solutions to problems of disinvestment and decline we need to develop models that rely less on subsidies and that instead engage private-sector players and market motivations. Energy retrofits and smart growth are two examples of how finance in partnership with design can be used to address these problems and use leverage to bring capital to struggling cities. There are many more models being formulated and tested in Rust Belt cities, including initiatives for fresh food, business incubators, and educational facilities. The talk will discuss nascent and established initiatives bringing hope to long-neglected communities. Tying the right datasets and financial models to scalable and replicable initiatives we can tap into investment dollars to harness that capital for the revitalization of our communities.
Marc Norman is trained as an urban planner and has worked in the field of community development and finance for over 15 years. With degrees in Political Economics (UC Berkeley, B.A. 1989) and Urban Planning (UCLA, M.A. 1992) he has developed and financed over 2,000 units totaling more than $400 million in total development costs. He has worked for for-profit and non-profit organizations, committed to community development and affordable housing. He has taught courses on real estate and housing policy at the Syracuse School of Architecture. As Director of UPSTATE, he implements initiatives in collaboration with City, State and University partners.
Brent Ryan – Rebuilding Shrinking Cities: Top Down or Ad Hoc?
Almost fifty years ago, America’s industrial cities began shedding people and jobs, and the future of neighborhoods in these places is precarious. How we will rebuild shrinking cities and what urban design vision will guide their future remain contentious and unknown. With communities fearful of top-down planning, much hope today lies in small-scale, ‘tactical’ strategies. Is informal urbanism the key to these places’ future, or will planners have to revisit the ‘bad old days’ of top-down Modernism to save shrinking cities?
Brent D. Ryan is Assistant Professor of Urban Design and Public Policy in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. His research focuses on emerging urban design paradigms, particularly in postindustrial cities. His book ‘Design After Decline: How America rebuilds shrinking cities,’ was published in 2012. He has worked as an urban designer in New York City, Boston, and Chicago, and has previously taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was also Co-Director of the City Design Center. Ryan holds degrees from Yale University (1991), Columbia University (1994), and MIT (2002).
Urban Renewal and Creative Economy in Massachusetts Gateway Cities, Creative Economy Lecture Series (2012–2013) sponsored by UMass President’s Creative Economy Initiatives Fund, granted to College of Visual and Performing Arts.